A Somali pirate chief yesterday threatened to target Americans in revenge for the rescue of a US captain in a dramatic operation that saw naval snipers kill his captors after a five-day standoff.
After the rescue late on Sunday, the head of the pirate group that had held the American hostage aboard a lifeboat said they had agreed to free him without ransom before the US Navy took action.
“The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom … this matter will lead to retaliation and we will hunt down particularly American citizens traveling our waters,” Abdi Garad said by phone from the pirate lair of Eyl.
“We will intensify our attacks even reaching very far away from Somali waters and next time we get American citizens … they [should] expect no mercy from us,” he said.
Captain Richard Phillips, who commanded the Maersk Alabama cargo ship, was rescued when snipers shot the pirates on Sunday evening, after US President Barack Obama approved the use of force to save him, the navy said.
He was in good condition after being held hostage for five days in the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama, whose American crew had fought off the pirates’ attempt to capture it on Wednesday.
Navy snipers hidden in the stern of the USS Bainbridge, one of two warships that rushed to the scene, shot and killed the pirates, said Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of US naval forces in the region.
The pirates “were pointing the AK-47s at the captain,” who was tied up, Gortney said, adding that Obama had given orders to “take decisive action” if Phillips was at risk.
The snipers fired when they had one of the pirates in their sights “and two pirates with their head and shoulders exposed,” Gortney said.
At the time the Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer, was towing the lifeboat to calmer waters and was between 25m and 30m ahead of the boat.
CNN reported that the snipers were earlier brought in by helicopter and dropped into the water behind the Bainbridge.
The fourth pirate had surrendered, Gortney said, adding that the US Department of Justice was “working out the details” on how and where to prosecute him.
US media described the surviving pirate as possibly being 16 years old.
Although Washington’s policy is to not negotiate with pirates, Gortney acknowledged that US officials had engaged in a “deliberate hostage negotiation process” with a pirate who had come aboard the Bainbridge earlier.
After the pirate returned to the lifeboat, the process reached a low point and “it got heated,” he said.
Phillips was taken aboard the Bainbridge then flown to the assault ship USS Boxer. He called his family in the US and received a medical checkup.
In Washington, Obama — who had been publicly silent on the hostage crisis — said in a statement that he was “very pleased” with Phillips’ rescue, calling it “a welcome relief to his family and his crew.”
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS